Kandahar University

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Kandahar University
Pashto: د کندهار پوهنتون‎
Kandahar University logo.png
TypePublic
Established1990[1]
ChancellorDr. Abdul Wahid Waseeq
Vice-ChancellorSher Shah Rashad
Students9,000 (500 women)[2]
Location
Kandahar
,
Kandahar Province
,
Afghanistan
Websitekdru.edu.af/en Edit this at Wikidata

Kandahar University (Pashto: د کندهار پوهنتون‎)[3] is a government funded higher learning institution in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It is one of two universities in southern Afghanistan. Kandahar University (KU) was established in 1990, at a time when the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) was in power under President Mohammad Najibullah. Tooryalai Wesa, who returned to the country after 13 years and is governor of Kandahar province, was the first chancellor of Kandahar University.

Kandahar University provides courses in Computer Science, Medicine, Engineering, economics, journalism and communications, public administration and policy, law and political science, pharmacy, language and literature and Education. It has more than 9,000 students, including 500 female students, across eleven faculties.[2] The university enrolls around 3,000 students each year through an entrance exam directly under the control of the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education.[4]

Overview[]

The hostel area of Kandahar University (KU) in 2009

Kandahar University was established in 1990 based on the national development policy of the government for the education sector according to the framework of the Ministry of Higher Education. At first it had only a single Faculty of Agriculture. Subsequently, the Faculties of Medicine, Engineering, Education, Sharia Law, Economics and Journalism were established in 1994, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2012, respectively. In addition, two faculties (Agricultural and Education) have been established as a branch of Kandahar University in Helmand province. Currently, Kandahar University has around 9,000 students and 270 full- and part-time professors. Out of 270 professors, 100 have MSc degrees and 3 have PhDs. The university has 1,039 alumni from four faculties (Agriculture, Medicine, Engineering and Education). The university offers night classes for students who are not able to attend during the day as well as in-service public, private and NGO employees.

Until 2003 the university did not have its own campus and was operating in a mobile form. It moved to its current campus in 2003 which occupies an area of 93 hectares. The 13 buildings are mainly constructed for dormitory purposes (student housing facilities) which the university provides, but also for administrative and academic purposes. KU also possesses an on-campus agricultural research farm and a off-campus teaching hospital which was transferred to the university from Afghan National Army properties in Kandahar City at the request of the university and following approval from the President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai.

KU has established an IT centre which was supplied by NATO and the university has planned to connect it to an optical fibre project. The university has 161 computers distributed across 5 PC labs for students’ use. The university does not have a proper central library due to the lack of infrastructure and instead contains 8 small libraries in different faculties and departments. There are no official study halls for students to use and thus they have to study in their dormitories or elsewhere which is difficult given that each dorm room is shared by 10 to 12 students. The curricula for different faculties are prepared according to the needs of the country and global developments. The educational credit system is used in the Faculties of Medicine and Education. Some basic laboratories are under preparation to enable students to conduct lab work in the Faculties of Education, Agricultural, Engineering and Medicine.

The campus covers an area of more than 600,000 m2. It contains 11 buildings, of which one is the Administration and Chancellor's office, four are student dormitories, one for each faculty and one for the Central Library. There is a separate girls' dormitory. Other structures on the campus are the tomb of Allama Abdul Shakoor Rishad baba who was a writer, artist and poet of Afghanistan and a mosque located next to the university for attending the Eid prayers each year.

In 2008, the Canadian government built a 3km perimeter of stone, brick and iron around the campus to address security concerns, which has been dubbed "the Great Wall of Kandahar". In 2012, with the assistance of the University of Arizona in the United States, Kandahar University began using solar energy for electricity.[2]

Gallery[]

  • The Eidgah Jaami Jumat at Kandahar University

  • Dean of Agriculture faculty (left) receives books of Soil Science

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ 132 university students graduated
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Kandahar University Goes Solar". November 3, 2012. Archived from the original on February 18, 2013. Retrieved 2012-11-05.
  3. ^ "Home | KDRU". kdru.edu.af. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  4. ^ "Educatly". www.educatly.com. Retrieved 2021-02-01.

External links[]

Coordinates: 31°38′17″N 65°41′49″E / 31.63815°N 65.69693°E / 31.63815; 65.69693

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